by Alan Caldwell
The Calgary Flames have announced that they are ceasing operations of their AHL club in Moline, Illinois after this season.
http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/...898/story.html
They plan to request to the league that they be allowed to move their AHL club to Abbotsford, BC. This is likely of considerable interest to the WHL, since Abbotsford happens to be in the same drawing area as two WHL teams - Vancouver and Chilliwack. Abbotsford is right smack in the middle of the two teams geographically and thus is probably in the position of competing with both teams for hockey fans' entertainment dollars.
I'm not sure if the AHL is going to work in Abbotsford though....sure, there's a brand new 7,000+ seat arena which no doubt holds a lot of appeal to the owners. But travel has to be an issue....the AHL is primary based in the Eastern time zone, and the nearest team to Abbotsford is in Winnipeg. For a bus travel-based league, Abbotsford is probably not going to work unless the team agrees to subsidize the cost of air travel for its visiting opponents. When you add those costs to the bottom line....is it still feasible in Abbotsford? How much would the tickets have to cost to cover those additional travel expenses?
We'll see.....one thing's for sure, if they put the team there then it'll be a chance for WHL fans on the coast to still easily view the progress of the pro careers of some of their WHL favourites.
http://smallatlarge.blogspot.com/200...bbotsford.html